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The glossary on the left-hand page of the dialogue is extremely helpful. This is a must for Shakespeare buffs or even those who want to read more Shakespeare.
Katharine was a little too shallow, swinging from all fire and venom to meek and subserviant all too quickly, but she was the core of the irony and sarcasm of the play.A great work from the Bard.E.M. My favorite character was Bianca, the bookish but beautiful woman who had men falling overthemselves for her for all the wrong reasons. She deserved better than she got, and I suspect that this character was intended as an homage to Queen Elizabeth. This is a show piece for Shakespeare's ability to portray the human condition. Van Court I enjoyed it immensely once I caught on to the sarcastism and irony of the depiction.This play is easily misunderstood, as irony always is (cinema fans will note that Paul Verhoeven swore off irony after people falsely accused him of glorifying a totalitarian society in "Starship Troopers"). It is about wanting what isn't what we think it is, not wanting what is as it seems, marrrying out of pragmatism and finding love, loving blindly and not finding love, the impact of social pressure on love, the impact of love on social pressure, some utterly blind fantasy about women, and some clear understanding of women. Things aren't what they appear, people change, men in love (or lust) have a diminished capacity for rational thought, and women are not property or predictable.
And Shakespeare's wordplay is at its best here. This play is one of Shakespeare's most ribald, but I enjoyed it just the same. It is wonderful. I defy anyone not to laugh out loud numerously as they read this play. It's lusty, earthy and somewhat farcical. It's a very popular play because it is funny and fast-moving.
If you are up for a challenge I would recommend The Taming Of The Shrew. Also, this edition has scene summaries and word definitions to help you understand it. Once I let it sink in after I completed it, I relized the underlying messages, the quick witted dialouge and the absurd (although a little weak, as mentioned before) plot make this a pretty good read. First off let me say that this is my first and only Shakespeare play that I have read so I have nothing to compare it too, author wise. If you are new to Shakespeare, this seems as good of a place as any to start with his works. Looking back, I was wrong. I had to read this for my 9th grade english class, and my first thoughts on the text were that it was hard to understand, it was boring and I hated it. The plot is a little lacking (I won't bore you with the details, you have read them elsewere), but the dialouge is very clever if you can understand it.
There are fantastic scenes of comedic wit, in which arguing scenes are taken to a whole new level of jabs and stabs with words. I enjoy the sirious Shakespeare better. OF course, besides all that the universal themes that shakespeare can recognize is amazing, so it still makes THe Shrew great. Maybe it's because i read this through a class that it is not so good, but for some reason i didn't connect with this book. Overall, the story is weak, but does contain great writing. King Lear was fantastic, Romeo and Juliet superb, Othello was fantastic, but the Shrew just didn't cut it for me. IT just didn't capture me like other Shakespeare books. I think it's because it is a comedy.
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